OUTDOORS: Gun hunters grouse about archers' perks

AP Photo
Archery hunter Russell Ferebee quietly watches for Rocky Mountain elk on the Continental Divide west of Helena, Mont. Even as overall hunting declines, archery hunters - or bowhunters - account for a growing proportion of hunters in the United States.

My neighbor up in Pennsy was griping about the long season bow hunters enjoy as we lunched on grilled moose burgers, thanks to his rifle hunt in Maine last year, on his camp deck overlooking our little lake.

I mentioned I could come up with my crossbow and set up the camo ground blind for deer the end of this month. He snarled between burger bites.

Here in New Jersey the bow season opened yesterday in nearly 30 zones. That is a real head start on getting first crack at bagging your deer.

The real gun seasons don’t start until November or early December. Of course the fall bow season is followed by the permit archery season…more time and opportunity to put venison in the freezer for the bow hunter, who can now use a crossbow, another advantage for people who can’t hold a recurve or compound at full draw for more than 20 seconds.

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Before I get a rash of nasty e-mails from bow hunters, I walked the woods and sat in trees more than 30 years ago with a recurve and eventually moved on to a compound with its bells, whistles and pulleys. I just don’t have the patience to wait for a deer to waltz within 20 yards of my ambush point anymore. I like to reach out and touch one with my .270 in Pennsy. One shot, one kill 99.9 percent of the time in my experience, unlike the ratio that bow hunters, if honest, can claim.

But, since crossbows — which allow women, older folks, youngsters new to hunting to enjoy the experience without risking a torn rotator cuff — have come into play, there is an uptick in archery license sales, a bright spot in an overall declining interest by the social media and computer game generation.

Another advantage why archers tagged nearly half the 50,109 deer taken in New Jersey last year is that they can hunt on Sundays on private land and Wildlife Management Areas.

Want one more huge benefit archers enjoy? Their season usually is in the high point of the rut. This is the time of year when bucks go nutso and have only one thing on their minds…kind of like 20-somethings at the Saturday night pickup joint.

Bucks are vulnerable as all sense of caution leaves them in the heat of the chase for does ready to mate. If that line strikes a familiar chord for humans of the male gender, well you know of what I speak.

But those sitting in trees or ground blinds are there, shotgun hunters waiting for the late seasons are not. They get the leftovers in winter.

During the 201l-2012 deer seasons bow hunters dropped 14,207 whitetails during the fall bow seasons and another 8,022 during the permit bow period.

The traditional six-day firearm season, which begins in early December, saw 7,025 deer downed. Muzzleloader hunters accounted for another 6,059 and the permit deer season, which is very generous in limits, accounted for 10,815, still a bunch lower than the 14,000 and change killed in the fall bow season, under way now.

Personally, I don’t much care as I do all my deer hunting in Pennsy and I can, since scoring a doe permit, hunt the senior days in October to put meat in my freezer. I do hunt pheasant on club property in New Jersey.

But there is still griping and growling relative to gun versus bow hunters and the time they each get afield. Right now it seems the state has bowed to the archers, much like the Bureau of Fisheries caves anytime Trout Unlimited whines about fly fishing opportunities.

Hey, the bowhunters and TU have a voice in New Jersey and they show up at important meetings. Some of the blame for the loss of the worm dunkers or gun hunters’ time and turf is due to plain old apathy.

In other words, it’s their own damn fault.

Meanwhile I have a suggestion that the bowhunters won’t like. It’s sort of like robbing Peter to pay Paul…which makes for a friend in Paul, but really ticks off Peter.

That is to flip flop the seasons every other year. This year the bow and arrow guys get the jump on the early seasons, next year the gun hunters do. Sounds fair to me.

But I don’t think Fish & Wildlife would make such a gusty move.

STUFF TO DO

Don’t forget the outdoor expo this weekend at Colliers Mills and the annual Gov’s surf fishing tourney next month. Go to www.njfishandwildlife.com for details.

— Contact me at rikwrite@aol.com and check the Out in the Open blog for more outdoor news.